Ending the West’s Ponzi Scheme

Anyone who has been paying attention knows that the Western-style social welfare state which emerged after World War II is failing. Simply, the problem is that Western governments have promised more goodies to their people than is possible to sustain over time. The first folks in the mix got hooked up very well, but those who’re around today are going to be screwed — very much like a Ponzi scheme.

The Blaze is reporting that the Boston Consulting Group has been circulating a “chilling” memo to CEOs called “Ending the Era of Ponzi Finance: Ten Steps Developed Economies Must Take.” Frequent visitors to AOR will find many of its findings quite familiar — reducing government benefits, restructuring taxes, dealing with debt responsibly, etc. — while some suggestions wouldn’t be so keen to us — guaranteeing a minimum income, government dumping money into clean energy boondoggles, etc.

The truth is that such a report will fall on deaf ears in DC (maybe not if Romney had won). We had a chance to get serious about our problems, but voted for the same ol’ guys — the failing “fiscal cliff” talks demonstrate that we are not serious yet. But it’s nice to see some people talking about wanting real solutions to our problems rather than weak temporary moves.